Coach Hallidie began running in high school and decided to run at the collegiate level for UAA, where she concluded a successful career as a member of both the cross country and track and field teams. She appeared at NCAA Nationals five times, received three All-Region honors, and was awarded three All-Conference accolades.

Upon finishing her collegiate eligibility, she then began volunteer assistant coaching at UAA during the 2012-2013 academic year. She has been coaching for over ten years with Skinny Raven Sports Kids Running, the Her Tern/Hightail training group, Raven Run Club, and Intro to Run. She has also volunteer coached at Special Olympics Alaska and worked on other private coaching opportunities. She took over RRC as the head coach in 2016 and has been certified by Road Runners Club of America as a Level 2 coach. Her goals for this group include “providing development opportunities that enhance knowledge, develop skills, and enrich the organization.” Helping people live healthy lives is a passion of hers and she hopes to share running with people of all ability levels.

Coach Grace began running her junior year of high school and fell in love with it. Following senior year, Grace committed to run at UAA. Her career was not as successful as she had hoped, as she spent the majority of her eligibility injured. From stress fractures to strained muscles, Grace’s body was not prepared or able to handle the training load of college. While running for UAA, the cross country team won regions and made it to Nationals where they placed 6th.

In track, Grace narrowly missed qualifying for Nationals again in the 3000m steeplechase. After leaving the team in May of 2019, she wasn’t sure how her body would handle running if there was no pressure for her to perform. She had to teach herself to love it again. When Hallidie asked Grace to coach when Michelle went on maternity leave, she was nervous. She had never coached before and had really only been running for four years. When she started coaching her first RRC group this last fall, she struggled to explain workouts and wasn’t sure if she could ever get to a place where she would feel comfortable leading a group. As an introvert, coaching practically threw her out of her comfort zone. Today, she feels so much better about her place in the group. She loves getting to see everyone each week and talk about life and running. Raven Run Club has forced her to explain things in ways that she never would and see different angles of running then she was used to. Grace has learned so much from each of the RRC participants and is grateful for that opportunity. She hopes this group not only sparks a love (or at least a fond interest) for running but that participants each develop a new level of confidence as they tune in to all that their body is capable of. Grace is excited to keep learning with you in the weeks, months, and maybe years to come!

Coach Jennifer (Jen) is new to the Raven Run Club but not with coaching. She’s an experienced coach since 2018 where she’s coached running and water running groups for multiple adult training teams. She currently is the head coach for a women’s running team as well as an assistant coach with one of the local high school cross country running teams. Jen also trains individual runners to help them accomplish their running goals. She is a Level II certified running coach with both the Road Runner’s Club of America and has an accreditation with the National Federation of High School Sports.

Jen has had a love for running since the age of 12. She competed on the Bartlett High School cross country running and track teams in Anchorage and briefly on the Pineville High School running teams in Louisiana where she won the State Cross Country Championship title her sophomore year. Jen enjoys running in various races, from 5K to 13.1 miles every year during the short Alaska running season. She particularly likes to push the envelope and run as fast as she can in her favorite 5K races. Her favorite runs are out on the trails exploring and having fun with her family. When she’s not running, Jen is a team member at Skinny Raven Sports and for fun serves as a Logistics Officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.